Is it 'homemade' pumpkin pie - or not?

Is it really homemade? How do you know? One of the most often discussed subjects on this topic at our house is this very thing. My wife makes pumpkin pie from a can - she mixes the pumpkin pie filling in a can with sugar and eggs. This is added to a pre-made pie crust and then baked. She gets some whipping cream and whips it with sugar to make a topping and voila' - a "homemade" pumpkin pie.

When it was my turn to cook, I figured that I could take this homemade thing a few logical steps further. Why waste time with the canned filling mix? Why bother with a pre-made frozen pie crust? Logically, just buy them together, already mixed. This is known as a frozen pie in a box. To me it was the same ingredients - just already mixed together and it even saves a few dirty dishes to wash.

Homemade? "No" insists my wife. Her pie is homemade; mine is simply "processed." Processed? What the heck is that? Isn't everything "processed?" Fruits and vegetables are even washed - a simple form of processing. Isn't the orange pumpkin stuff in the can processed? Isn't the pie crust, two to a bag and frozen, processed?

Granted, I didn't whip the cream, so that aspect was not homemade. But the filling? The pre-made crust? Heck, by this measure, "homemade" pumpkin pie starts with a pumpkin and a bag of flour.

If you take pumpkin pie back to its roots, homemade pie started with a pumpkin, grain, some sugar cane, and a cow. If you traded a goat for some flour from a merchant, did you get "processed" flour? Was some caveman husband debating the merits of homemade just because the neighbor milked the cow?

Determined to prove my point, I planted pumpkin seed. As the plant sprouted, I wondered if it was a weed or a real pumpkin plant. After months of care, water, and weeding, the plant thrived. It produced a flower and eventually a tiny pumpkin began to grow. By some miracle, I actually grew a pumpkin in my garden. Talk about homemade, I had it made! It was orange and everything.

Being the great husband that I am, I carefully cut and brought this pumpkin home and presented it to my wife. This would surely help her in making homemade pumpkin pie. Sure, I really wanted to see what she would do with it. But I I am even more glad that she didn't do what she was thinking with it.

"What's this?" she asked. A pumpkin for you, to help you make more delicious pie.

"Ever try to make pumpkin pie from a pumpkin?" my wife asked. Well, no I hadn't. "It takes a long time." Duh. Isn't it obvious? That's the point of homemade - it's made at home. Not so fast. After some deduction on my part, I learned the rule is that if it takes a long time, or is too hard, a canned item may substitute for an actual fresh item of the same name. Little did I know about cooking.

Apparently, mixed a canned version of pumpkin mix with eggs and sugar is making it at home. And the frozen crust? No, that is technically not part of the pie - or at least the part that makes it "homemade." Whipping the cream cancels out the frozen crust. So the result is, obviously, a homemade pumpkin pie.

And, just as logical, if you buy the filling and the crust already put together, it is not homemade. Makes perfect sense? Well, no, but I am still wrong, and am man enough to admit it. And if you know what's best for you, you'll admit it too.

Pumpkin pie made from canned filling and baked in a pre-made crust IS homemade. Just don't think about it too much.

You need a very large container to grow a large pumpkin. Small pumpkins (<10 lbs.) like Jack Be Little, or others would be perfect for a patio or pot grower. The problem with big pumpkins is that they use a LOT of water, an amount that could never be sustained in an pot. At the height of the growing season it can be typical for large pumpkins to grow 30 lbs. per day. Between the massive rate of transpiration from their large leaves and their fast growth you would practically need to fill a pot constantly. A near 100 pound pumpkin is certainly impressive, but it is still rather stunted compared to what they can be. A vine that isn't pruned can take up as much as 2500 square feet, try and imagine that in a tiny pot. Pumpkins send down roots at each of their leaf nodes. So, you have to let these grow in the ground (or another pot) and that would certainly help with the water issue. A self-watering container could really help grow some nice pumpkins however most pots just aren't big enough for the really large pumpkins. Just imagine how dissapointed you will be to find a large, bone dry, wilted plant. You would be better off growing the big pumpkins in the ground with a lot of compost. Smaller pumpkins can be grown in large pots (half whiskey barrel size), but it takes work and thought. You may consider an ornamental pumpkin too. Just don't plan on making a pie from the pumpkin - better stick with the can!